Delhi University community radio gives students platform to debate key issues

Managed completely by a team of over 400 student volunteers and two consultants, Delhi University Community Radio (DUCR) over the years has turned out to be the best talent showcasing platform for the students while giving them the opportunity to learn radio broadcasting.

Established in 2007 by Kapil Sibal, DUCR is available on the frequency 90.4 MHz with a radius of 10-12 km. The main thrust area of DUCR 90.4 is to broadcast not only student centric community based programmes but also to talk about socially relevant issues.

“We debate about health, stress management, examinations, general knowledge as a part of student centric programme in order to connect with the students well. This helps them to engage with us with more understanding and knowledge. DUCR is running completely on the concept of community participation without professionals,” said DUCR team member Ritu.

DUCR, which airs some of the most popular programs like DUCR Pathshala, Halchal DU ki, and Indradhanush daily, also introduces some special programmes from time to time as per requirement.

It was in the year 2008, when DU started using the station for disseminating information about the admission process, through live phone-in programmes during admission season. Since then, DUCR airs various admission special programmes every year in a bid to answer the queries of aspirants.

In addition to these programmes, music and songs are also included into it to make the shows more interesting. In March last year, the media team of DUCR even covered the whole journey of Gyanodaya Express, which was an educational train journey of DU.

As the radio station runs all day collating material for seven hours of daily broadcasts, the team ensures to carry out the process well with active volunteers. For this, mostly students from Non-Collegiate Women’s Education Board (NCWEB) and the School of Open Learning (SOL) are invited, as they are able to dedicate more time than the regular college students.

“We have developed a studio of sorts in different colleges with different slots for airing. In this way, we have decentralised operations and participation,” said DUCR consultant R.K. Singh. Interestingly, due to the growing popularity, the radio station had even opted for live streaming using the university intranet to connect to all colleges as well as being available on the internet at DUCR’s official website.

The community radio even introduced an android-based application for the students which help them to not only listen to the programmes but also access archival contents.

Now in a bid to increase its outreach, the community radio, with the help of DU, is also setting up broadcast rooms in several colleges, which would not only give practical training to students but also allows them to put forth their views and ideas.

“The rooms will have the required acoustic infrastructure including internet and software as the range of DUCR’s radio transmitter is limited and fails to cover far-off colleges. But this extension is being done for those students who study in distant and far off colleges and want to connect with the radio,” said Mr Singh.

However, DUCR provides with internships and time-to-time training programmes to the volunteers. “A complete training is being given on radio broadcasting, right from putting on the transmitter to familiarity with hardware and software. Volunteers also learn about radio jockeying, editing, and scriptwriting,” said training and website manager Ashish Suman.